ISO 27001 Incident Management Procedure Template

Understanding ISO 27001 Incident Management

ISO 27001 Information Security Incident Management offers an orderly process for managing security events from their detection to resolution and review. Studies have indicated that firms using formalized procedures tend to resolve incidents faster and at a lower cost than those lacking such guidelines.

ISO 27001 Annex A.16 Incident Management stipulates what organizations need to do regarding security incidents and focuses on:

• Responding to and managing identified security threats in a timely manner.
• Developing a uniform policy for conducting incident management.
• Designating specific personnel for each function.
• Using incidents as learning opportunities to improve security measures for the organization.

Components Of An Effective Incident Management Procedure Template

An ISO 27001 Incident Management Procedure Template contains the following main components:

1. Purpose and scope: Describe how your organization perceives a security breach and explain how your procedure aims to mitigate the breach. This excerpt should outline which events will be regarded as breaches and which organizational units or subsystems will be included.

2. Roles and Responsibilities: Capture all aspects of incident management and who they are assigned to, including the:

• Incident response teams
  
  
• Escalation procedures
  
  
• Naming authority
  
  
• External communications authority

3. Incident Classification System: Develop a system for categorization of incidents by defining its type, severity, and possible impact. This assists in prioritization.

4. Detection and Reporting Procedures: Describe how incidents detection is carried out as well as reporting and detail the:

• Monitoring systems and tools
  
  
• Employee reporting mechanisms
  
  
• Incident report requirements
  
  
• Initial reporting deadlines

5. Response and Containment: Provide a comprehensive detailed framework outlining each step for responding to various incidents, including containment protocols to minimize damage.

6. Investigation and Root Cause Analysis: Document all processes to be followed for incident investigation, evidence collection, and root cause analysis, and ensure all forensic protocols if needed are adhered to.

7. Recovery and Remediation: Set forth strategies for addressing impacted systems and proactively engaging to eliminate the issue.

8. Post-Incident Review: State and outline the objectives for the lessons learned session and having documents such with the intended goal of streamlining management by evaluation.

How To Implement ISO 27001 Incident Management Procedure Template

Here are the  steps of  the ISO 27001 incident management procedure for successful implementation:

Step 1: Learn and Identify Aspects of ISO 27001: Start from the scratch by reading the complete ISO 27001 standard focusing more on Annex A.16 (or Annex A.5.24-5.28 in ISO 27001:2022) that mentions the requirements towards incident management.

Step 2: Start Building Your Incident Response Team: Look for those people who will be part of the incident response team. “Identify the key organisational roles required to manage incidents, appoint them and prepare a detailed job description for each.”

Step 3: State Boundaries and Aims: Identify what parts of systems, processes, and documents are related to the scope of your incident management procedure. Objectives should, to a reasonable extent, be focused alongside the company's main plan of information security.

Step 4: Write Procedures: Draft a detailed procedure document that caters for;

• The means of incident recognition, together with raising alerts
  
  
• Criteria for classification and prioritization
  
  
• Protocols regarding response and escalation
  
  
• Stakeholder communication strategy
  
  
• Capturing and storing evidence procedures
  
  
• Restoration and review of the process after the incident

Step 5: Assemble Other Relevant Materials: Draft supporting documents for the procedures. that can include;

• Templates for reporting and investigating the incident
  
  
• Template for communication with varied stakeholders
  
  
• Templates for Post-incident review forms

Step 6: Train Your Team: Train all team member involved in incident management to understand their roles and the process.

Step 7: Test Through Simulation: Regularly simulate and drill to test the procedure and identify areas for more improvement. Evidence of regular incident response drills and simulations to test the incident management process.”

Benefits Of An ISO 27001 Incident Management Procedure

Having an incident management procedure brings many benefits:

• Less Impact: Detect and respond faster
  
  
• Business Continuity: Keep critical services running during security events
  
  
• Stakeholder Confidence: Show you care about security
  
  
• Compliance: Meet regulatory and contractual requirements
  
  
• Continuous Improvement: Learn from incidents to improve security

Conclusion

An ISO 27001 Incident Management Procedure Template is the starting point for consistently detecting, responding to and learning from security incidents. Follow this guide and customise it to your organisation’s needs to improve your security, reduce incident impact and demonstrate ISO 27001 compliance.